Acoustical communication by Lipara lucens (Diptera, Chloropidae)

Males of Lipara lucens Mg. living on stems of Common Reed (Phragmites communis Trin.) emit acoustical signals perceived at a distance by a female fly sitting on the same reed stem as vibration of the substrate. Virgin females respond to these signals by vibrating, which in turn elicits searching behaviour in the male fly. It is suggested that this behaviour reduces the time required to find a partner, because a reed stem needs only be visited briefly to ascertain whether a receptive female is present.

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Résumé Les mâles de Lipara lucens Mg. vivant sur les tiges du Roseau commun (Phragmites communis Trin.) émettent des signaux acoustiques perçus à distance comme une vibration du support par une mouche femelle située sur la même tige de roseau. Les femelles vierges répondent à leur tour à ces signaux par une vibration qui provoque le comportement de découverte chez la mouche mâle. Il est suggéré que ce comportement réduit le temps de découverte du partenaire parce qu'une tige de roseau peut être visitée rapidement par le mâle pour s'assurer de la présence d'une femelle réceptive.

     

Grass Flies (Diptera,Chloropidae) of Crimean Peninsula

The fauna of grass flies (Diptera: Chloropidae) of the Crimean Peninsula is reviewed for the first time. The study is based on examination of the collection of the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), which includes the material collected in Crimea by the authors, the collections of the Zoological Museum of the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University and V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (Simferopol). The annotated list includes 92 species in 34 genera and three subfamilies. Most of the species (61) are recorded from Crimea for the first time. Six species, Chlorops horridus Becker, Ch. puncticornis Loew, Dicraeus (Oedesiella) beschovskii Nartshuk, Lasiosina chandleri Ismay, Meromyza meigeni Nartshuk and Oscinimorpha longirostris (Loew) are recorded for the first time from Russia and Eastern Europe. The characters for distinguishing Oscinimorpha arcuata Duda from O. longirostris (Loew), i.e., the structure of head and the male genitalia, are provided. The boreo-montane species Oscinella vastator (Curtis) and Meromyza curvinervis (Zetterstedt) are found on the Chatyrdag Mountain and Yaila (mostly forestless plateau in the Crimean Mountains). Species with southern European, Mediterranean and Macaronesian-Mediterranean ranges were recorded mostly on the South Coast of Crimea. The Crimean fauna of Chloropidae is compared with the faunas of Sardinia and Turkey.     

Grassflies of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Polyodaspis</Emphasis> Duda (Diptera,Chloropidae) in the fauna of southeast Asia

Over 200 specimens of Polyodaspis from Vietnam and Thailand (project TIGER) were studied. Variations in the color of the body and, especially, of the setae and setulae of the head, scutellum, and abdomen are demonstrated. The following new synonymy is established: Polyodaspis ruficornis (Macquart, 1835) = P. ruficornis var. tarsalis Frey, 1923, syn. n.; = P. flavipila Duda, 1934, syn. n.; = P. endogena de Meijere, 1938, syn. n.; = P. flavisetosa Nartshuk, 1991, syn. n.; = P. similis Nartshuk, 1991, syn. n.     

A supplement to the grassfly fauna of Japan (Diptera, Chloropidae)

Two new grassfly species, Gampsocera diversicolor closely related to G. tenuisinuosa Kanmiya, 1983 and Conioscinella subdivitis closely related to C. divitis Nartshuk, 1971, are described from Japan. Keys for the new species are given. Oscinisoma ussuriense Nartshuk, 1973, known in Primorskii Territory of Russia and Korea, was found in Japan (Honshu Island) for the first time. The genus Oscinisoma Lioy, 1864 was also first recorded in Japan.     

The Horsefly Fauna (Diptera,Tabanidae) of Yakutia

The literature on the fauna of the family Tabanidae (Diptera) of Yakutia is analyzed. The distribution of 37 species of horseflies over 7 natural regions of Yakutia is considered. Seven taxa of horseflies previously known by erroneous records are excluded from the fauna of Yakutia.

     

Two new species of Pselaphia (Diptera, Chloropidae) from Zambia

Pselaphia haladai sp. n. and Pselaphia zambiensis sp. n. are described from Zambia. All African Pselaphia species are keyed and main differential characters are illustrated.     

Plant-feeding dipterans (Diptera,Chloropidae, Agromyzidae) from Wrangel Island (the Chukchi Sea)

Flies of the family Chloropidae were found in the arctic tundra for the first time. Oscinella frit L. was collected in several areas of the mountainous part of Wrangel Island, occurring mainly in the ground layer. Among three species of Agromyzidae, Napomyza mimula Spencer was the most numerous; it was found both in the mountains and on the coastal plain. Two other species, Phytomyza cineracea Hendel and Chromatomyia sp., were rare. The only biotope where all the four species were collected simultaneously was a zoogenic forb-grass meadow patch which developed around the arctic fox burrow.     

On the fauna of tachinids (Diptera,Tachinidae) from Yakutia

144 tachinid species were recorded from Yakutia, among which 29 species, e.g., Drino galii B. B., Cleonice keteli Ziegler, Anthomyiopsis nigrisquamata Zett., Eulabidogaster setifacies Rd., Leucostoma meridianum Rd., and L. simplex Fall., were found there for the first time. Peculiarities of the distribution of some steppe species in Yakutia are considered.     

Species of the genus Thressa Walker, 1860 from China (Diptera, Chloropidae)

A review of the species of the genus Thressa from China is provided. The following four species are described as new to science: Thressa bimaculatasp. n., Thressa daiyunshanasp. n., Thressa foliaceasp. n. and Thressa longimaculatasp. n. One species, Thressa flavior (Duda), is recorded from China for the first time. A key to the species of the Thressa from China is given.     

Grass-fly larvae (Diptera,Chloropidae): Diversity,habitats, and feeding specializations

The fly family Chloropidae belongs to the higher Diptera series Acalyptratae. It is distributed worldwide and globally comprises 200 genera and about 3000 species in 4 subfamilies: Oscinellinae, Siphonellopsinae, Rhodesiellinae, and Chloropinae. In the fossil record, Chloropidae are known since the Oligocene, with 2 genera found in Baltic amber: one extinct, the other recent. The family includes several important agricultural pests (frit flies, gout flies, Meromyza, seed pests) which injure corn. The feeding preferences of chloropid larvae vary strongly: there are saprophages in the broad sense, true phytophages using both woody and grassy plants (mainly monocots), predators on egg masses of insects and spiders, as well as on scale insects and aphids, and ectoparasites of frogs. Among the 100 families of monocots (Liliopsida), only 11 include species serving as food plants for chloropid larvae. The greatest diversity of habitats and feeding types is observed in the subfamily Oscinellinae. The most advanced subfamily Chloropinae includes mostly phytophagous larvae. A possible scenario of ecological evolution within the family is briefly discussed.     

On the fauna of Scathophagidae (Diptera) of Yakutia

The fauna of the family Scathophagidae of Yakutia, including 44 species of 15 genera, was studied. 23 species are recorded from the territory for the first time. The Arctic and subarctic zones of Yakutia have been still poorly studied, and additional species are found there. The scathophagid fauna of Yakutia was compared with the faunas of the neighboring regions using the dendrogram similarity method based on calculation of the Czekanowski–Sørensen coefficient.     

First Data on Vibration Signals in Flies of the Genus Meromyza (Diptera,Chloropidae)

Biology Bulletin - This paper discusses vibration communication in representatives of the genus Meromyza. The frequency range of vibration signals of Meromyza saltatrix (L., 1761) females is 229 to...     

Parasites of grass flies (Diptera, Chloropidae) from the order hymenoptera in the Holarctic region

Hymenopterous parasitoids of grass flies of the family Chloropidae from the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions are reviewed. These parasitoids belong to four superfamilies and 16 families of Hymenoptera and were reared from 39 species of Chloropidae in the Palaearctic (less than 6% of the fauna) and only from 10 species in the Nearctic Region. The majority of parasitoids are oligo-or polyphagous species. To a certain degree, the parasitoids are specialized on one of the three host groups: (1) species developing in shoots of cereal and meadow grasses; (2) forest species developing in cones of coniferous trees; and (3) species associated with the common reed, Phragmites australis. In the Palaearctic Region, the majority of parasitoids (91 species) were reared from Oscinella frit L. s. 1.; a significantly smaller number of these parasites is known from this host in the Nearctic Region, nearly half of the parasitoids being common for both regions. The next large group of parasitoids is associated with gall-inducing species of the genus Lipara Meigen (59 species) developing in the common reed. By contrast with two other groups of parasitoids, this one includes many species of the family Ichneumonidae. It should be noted that taxonomic diversity at the third trophic level is markedly greater than at the second level.     

Three new species of Tricimba Lioy from the West Palaearctic region (Diptera,Chloropidae)

Tricimba rudolfi Kubík, sp. n. (Czech Republic, Portugal), Tricimba chalupi Kubík, sp. n. (Czech Republic), and Tricimba dursuni Kubík, sp. n. (Turkey) are described and illustrated. First records of Tricimba kaplanae Dely-Draskovits, 1983 from Corsica and Tricimba hungarica Dely-Draskovits, 1983 from Turkey are listed.     

Short-term climate and vegetation dynamics in Lena River Delta (northern Yakutia,Eastern Siberia) during early Eocene

Early Eocene climate and vegetation evolution in northern Yakutia (Eastern Siberia) are quantitatively studied for the first time based on paleobotanical records, using the coexistence approach (CA) for paleoclimate, the plant functional type approach (PFT) and the integrated plant record method (IPR). Paleobotanical data of this time-interval were obtained from 18 palynofloras of the coal beds outcropping on the bank of the Bykovskaya Channel in the area of Bulunkan Bay (Lena River Delta). The results indicate the persistence of warm temperate and at times possibly nearly tropical, overall humid climate conditions throughout the early Eocene, and a relatively strong seasonality in precipitation. The vegetation reconstructed is in agreement with the climate conditions determined by the CA. Analyses of the PFT diversity spectra indicate the prevalence of mixed warm temperate evergreen-deciduous forests. Based on the IPR method, plant biomes varied from mixed mesophytic forests during warmer intervals to broadleaved deciduous forest/mixed mesophytic forest ecotone during cooler episodes. The presence of mangroves in our early Eocene records is possibly related to hyperthermal events such as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.     

Host plan preferences of Oscinella spp. (Diptera: Chloropidae) in the laboratory

The oviposition preferences of Oscinella frit, O. vastator, O. nitidissima, O. albiseta andO. nigerrima for differenct Gramineae were investigated in the laboratory. O. frit, laid most eggs on oats, Lolium multiflorum and Festuca rubra, relatively few eggs were laid on barley and virtually none on Dactylis glomerata None of the other Osinella species oviposted on cereals. Of the other species, O. vastator appeared to be the most polyphagous and the preferred hosts were L. multiflorum, Lolium perenne and Festuca pratensis; few eggs were laid on either F. rubra, Agrostis tenuis or Poa pratensis. The host ranges of the remaining species were much more limited. Although a few eggs were laid by O. nitidissima on Lolium, the preferred host was A. tenuis. Oscinella albiseta oviposited only on D. glomerata whilst nearly all the eggs laid by O. nigerrima were deposited on shoots of Arrhenatherum elatius. The distribution of eggs by O. frit on L. multiflorum and A. tenuis was different from that on oats; on grasses most eggs were laid inside withered leaf sheaths whereas on oats most were deposited inside the coleoptile. The oviposition sites of O. nitidissima, O. nigerrima and O. albiseta on their respective host grasses were similar to those of O. frit on grasses. O. frit laid most eggs on grasses which were at the five-leaf stage and tailoring.     

Data on the thrips (Insecta,Thysanoptera) fauna of Central Yakutia

A list of 29 species of Thysanoptera belonging to three families from Central Yakutia is given.     

Contribution to the fauna of mollusk-eating marsh flies (Diptera,Sciomyzidae) of Yakutia

A total of 38 species belonging to 14 genera and 2 tribes of the family Sciomyzidae were recorded from Yakutia. Among these species, 23, 6, and 8 species were recorded from Yakutia, eastern Siberia, and Siberia, respectively, for the first time. The fauna of Central Yakutia, comprising 33 species, is examined best of all. The range diversity of investigated sciomyzids is classified into 13 types. Species with Holarctic and trans-Eurasian ranges constitute the largest groups comprising 12 species each. Colobaea punctata, Ilione albiseta, Pherbellia brunnipes, and Sepedon sphegea are very abundant. The species composition of the Yakut fauna noticeably differs from neighboring faunas of the Russian Far East, Mongolia, and Alaska, but the generic composition of these faunas is more similar. The Yakut fauna of the Sciomyzidae is intermediate between the fauna of Mongolia and the faunas of the Russian Far East and Alaska. The fraction of marsh flies in dipteran assemblages of meadow cenoses is usually small, but their abundance in some years grows significantly. The population density of marsh flies in the valleys of large rivers is higher in comparison with that found in isolated alas hollows in the plakors (= euclimatopes). Analysis of the trophic associations of the larvae of the Yakut sciomyzids has revealed 5 out of the 7 groups known in the family.